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 Investors are still hoping that the Federal Reserve will be inclined to lower interest rates again when it meets Dec. 11, although the central bank indicated after its Oct. 30-31 meeting that it was satisfied with the current state of the economy and still concerned about rising inflation.
Although investors regained some optimism Tuesday about the fallout from the ongoing credit market crisis after reassuring news from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Britain's HSBC Holdings said Wednesday it would have to write off a further $3.4 billion from its U.S. business during the third quarter because of exposure to subprime loans. However, strong growth from Asia and the Middle East are offsetting those losses.
Investors had regained some optimism Tuesday about the extent of credit-related losses in the financial industry after chief executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said they don't expect significant write-downs of mortgage-backed and other debt securities next year. That propelled the Dow Jones industrials up nearly 320 points.
Dow futures fell 27, or 0.07 percent, to 13,303 Wednesday, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures fell 1.80, or 0.12 percent, to 1,481.50. Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped 3.75, or 0.18 percent, to 2,063.00.
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 A barrel of light sweet crude rose $1.11 to $92.28 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Investors are also looking for direction from a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He will speak on the topic of central bank communications, but there are expectations he'll discuss the Fed's take on the economy.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 2.47 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 4.90 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.40 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.04 percent, while France's CAC-40 shed 1.07 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; By JOE BEL BRUNO]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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